Barix Audio over IP Devices Support Radio Broadcast Network in the Rocky Mountains
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ZURICH,
SWITZERLAND, April 12, 2010 — Barix AG, a pioneering IP-based
audio, intercom, control, and monitoring, announces that NRC
Broadcasting, a Colorado company dedicated to live and local radio,
has deployed a Barix Audio over IP network to distribute programming
to five FM booster stations and one AM facility.
NRC
Broadcasting has set up two Barix distribution systems from its
Breckenridge, Colorado facility: A point-to-point connection that
streams live program audio to KRKY-AM in Granby; and a
point-to-multipoint network that streams live program audio to five
KCMV-FM booster facilities. The Barix Audio over IP distribution
network uses Barix Instreamer 100 IP encoders and Exstreamer 100 IP
decoders to deliver high-quality AM and FM audio. Barix BRTP
software ensures low-latency for minimal program delays.
According
to Matt Schilz,Chief Engineer for NRC Broadcasting, the switch to
Barix from Qwest program audio circuits made sense for two reasons.
NRC is saving nearly $2,000 each month in recurring costs since
installing Barix, which requires only a high-speed IP connection to
transport audio across the network. Barix was also the most
affordable high-quality option compared to other multipoint audio
distribution options for the mountainous region.
“Point-to-point
microwave is completely out of the question for us considering that
the number of relay sites we need would outnumber our radio stations,
so Qwest program audio circuits were the least expensive solution we
had for a while,” said Schilz. “We started looking at IP
solutions when high-speed internet became available at our more
remote sites, but many of the systems we looked at were tens of
thousands of dollars in equipment costs. We tested the Barix
hardware over a single path and determined they were very reliable
for FM broadcast. It did exactly what we needed for a lot less
money.”
Schilz
has engineered what appears to be a unique distribution network for
his FM stations. The program audio is encoded into mp3 at
Breckenridge and streamed 70 miles to Denver where the company has a
much larger chunk of bandwidth at its data center to support the
network. An Exstreamer in Denver decodes the audio and pushes it to
a second Instreamer. From there, remote Exstreamers at five other
stations pull the program audio from a static wide-area-network IP
address for immediate on-air broadcast.
“The
Exstreamers pull the audio from the Denver Instreamer instead of
Denver pushing the audio to five stations, which makes network setup
easier,” said Schilz. “Setup of the Barix devices themselves is
simple. The most important part is keeping up with firmware upgrades
and new software.”
Schilz
is planning to use Barix for live remote broadcasts in the near
future, using Netbooks with data modems to communicate with cell
towers. “Barix gives us a point-to-point solution to get remote
audio from the field back to the studio over difficult terrain,” he
said. “Windows Media encoders will push the streams back to the
studio, where the Exstreamer will decode the audio for on-air
All Barix products are inexpensive, low-power devices that are scalable to the growth of the operation; offer reliability through a PC-FREE design with no moving parts; and serve as a flexible platform for integration into virtually any operation requiring audio transport and delivery. Barix also offers its programmable BCL standard open to all customers to easily tailor applications for specific needs. Local control, audio relay, and low-latency streaming are a few examples of custom programs using Barix’s BCL software environment.